WWII Veteran from Calif. receives Military Honor
LINCOLN, Neb. –– Ben Kuroki of Camarillo, Calif., believed to be the only Japanese American to have flown over Japan during World War II was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the third highest of the U.S. Army’s decorations.
“Receiving this medal so many decades after the fact is truly incredible,” Kuroki said. “I had to fight like hell to fight for my country, and now I feel completely vindicated.”
Raised on a Hershey, Neb., farm, Kuroki, 88, became a gunner and flew on 58 bomber missions over Europe, North Africa and Japan.
At their father’s urging, he and his brother sought to enlist after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They were turned down in North Platte, and the brothers traveled 150 miles to Grand Island, where they were accepted.
After the war, Kuroki earned a degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1950, and worked for the Ventura Star-Free Press in California.
Transportation Director Tanda Resigns
LOS ANGELES –– City Transportation Director Wayne Tanda, whose department has been criticized by new mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, announced that he will resign.
Tanda was hired three years ago by former Mayor James Hahn, and his resignation is the first departure of a department chief under the new mayor.
Tanda, who earned about $177,000 a year, said he was leaving because of the demands of traveling from San Jose, where his wife is a teacher and where he worked for three decades.
Sexual Harassment of Prison Staff
CHOWCHILLA, Calif. –– Three female employees, including prison staff dentist Jean Chang, have sued Chowchilla’s state prison for women, alleging their supervisor, Raymond Baker, sexually harassed them.
“We believe that there has been a serious problem of sexual harassment … but management and the Department of Corrections has willfully ignored it,” said plaintiffs attorney Dennis Hayashi.
The lawsuit says Baker on one occasion untied Chang’s surgical gown and told her she was wearing “nice pants,” and put his arms around her.
He also allegedly told Chang to refer to him as “Father Baker,” because he considered his staff to be his children, and the female workers to be subservient to him.
In July, the state Supreme Court ruled on another case against the same prison, ruling a former warden gave preferential treatment to those female employees he was sexually involved with.